Jim Pevehouse

Well, I finally got smart and started to recognize people while they were still with us… And thank GOD we still have a legend around in Jim Pevehouse. Jim was the President of Los Amigos in 1972 when they were World Champs.

I went to visit Jim quite often, he was my mentor. He taught me something that I use with any organization that I am involved with to this day. He said, "Fernando, don't make the mistake of making this the Fernando Padilla League or the Padilla Family League, because it's not. It's the community’s league and you will know that you are successful when you can leave it and it runs without you." Man, these are words that still ring in my ears. And, I never did forget them.

There is an interesting story that must be told about Jim. Back in about 1965 or so, we were called Western Boys Baseball Association. There were two different leagues that shared Los Amigos Park at that time. We were the Southern League and there was also the Western League. The Southern League was always the poorer kids, not that I noticed, but around this time, the Southern League folded. Jim was very upset about this, but he gave the Western League all of our teams and five thousand dollars of his own money so that our kids could play ball. Jim has no children of his own. We were his kids.

Well, what happened was not good. The new league bought new uniforms for their kids, but gave our kids used ones. Our Southern League kids were not being treated right. What did Jim do about this? Well, he took our kids back the next season and the Southern League was up and running again.

Jim was not only involved with Little League, he was also involved with Pony, which in those days played at JAMS - this is why I wanted to get our Pony division back up and running at JAMS. Jim was also involved with Colt division (15 & 16 year olds) which played at Marine Park . Perhaps one day, we’ll even resurrect the Colt program. I just visited Jim in Arizona , where he now lives and is retired. He has just completed a book about his experiences in community baseball. It is great.

We recognized Jim at the 2005 league dinner/dance with the following citation: “In appreciation for the time and effort you dedicated to several Santa Monica Baseball Organizations including Western Boys Baseball Association, Santa Monica Pony League, Santa Monica Colt League and Santa Monica American Legion. We would not be here if it had not been for your leadership. Thank you. You will never be forgotten.”